Ice-cream-molding machine



May s, 1925.

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May 5,

Filed 0G12. l0, 1921 f um mo. Nm om INVEN'TOR May 5,1925.l

J. WQCARPENTER ICE CREAM MOLDING MACHINE WN mw mw MN um l N w N vh m f m. h wm mh @Y NN WN QN MN INVENTOR:

May 5, 1925.

`1,536,420 I J. W. CARPENTER ICE CREAM MOLDING MACHINE Filed 001:. lO. 1921 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

.mi E @i Patented May 5, 1925.

J. WILLABD CARPENTER, OF ST. ILICVOIS,` MISSOURI.

ronfonnAM-Momnrne MACHINE.

Application filed October 10, 19%1.

To a-ZZ 107mm t may concern:

Be it known that L J. VVILLARD CARPEN- rrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ice-Cream-Molding Machines, of which the following is a speciw tlcation.

The object of this invention is to supersede by a new method the hand method ot forming" ice-cream or the like into what are called bricks, whether composed of one body or ot what are known as layers, and the provision ot mechanical means tor practicino` this new method.

The method in practically universal use at the prese-nt time for this purpose is Jfor a sweaty workman to dip with a sp'oon or ladle from a can or other ice-cream container a quantity ot tirst one iavor or kind of ice-cream and then another, each time throwing` the same into a box or brick-container; then by hand smoothing` off the surplus at the top, thus making' waste; and then putting` on the lid. The' quantities are not thus accurately gaged; the process is not cleanly; unnecessary waste occurs; and severe muscular labor is necessitated. All these are` obviated by the present invention.

ln the accompanying drawings forming part off this specification, in which like numbers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure l is a side elevation;

Figure 2 is top plan view;

Figure 3 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of one of the hoppers in rela tion to' the endless carrier and the tripping,` means mounted thereon (the hopper being partly in section);

Figure il is a sectional view, taken on the line lfd in Figure 3, looking downward;

Figru'e 5 is an end elevation (parts being broken away) Figure t is a sectional view, taken on the line G-G in Figure l, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Figure 7 is a detail, in section, of one of the molds;

Figur-es 8 and 9 are detailsto show how the stops for the triggers on the hoppers Serial No. 566,552.

are made adjustable, Figure 8 being a sectional view on the line S-8 in Figure 9; and

Figures l() to l5 illustrate a modification oi' the hoppers and unloading deVice-i. e.,

unloading the hoppers into molds, and the` A caterpillar-like endless carrier 7 extendsv approximately the full width of the machine and, also, substantially its full length, traveling` upon wheels 5 and 6 and around the outer surfaces of both. As these wheels 5 and 6 revolve, their complete circumerences will thus come into contact with.`

carrier 7, but in the way of such things carrier 7. engages at one time only that part of the periphery of wheel 5 that ismost remote from wheel 6 and vice versa.

A plurality of. molds 8 is borne by carrier .7, the said carrier being` a link-belt carrier and each mold 8 being' attached to a link 9 by a pair ot' spring clips l() that allow easy attachment and detachment. The carrier 7 is driven forward with a step-by-stepmovenient, which is permitted by the plurality oit faces ll on the wheels 5 and G, preterably octagonal in shape, each tace ll being suitable to allow a link 9 to lie thereon.

The object ot the above-mentioned stepby-step movement is to allow each mold S, with its mouth opening upward, to pause in its forward travel a suitable length ot time underneath a hopper l2 (if onlyone kind of ice-cream is to be molded) or under a plurality of hoppers l2 (if more than one kind ot ice-cream is to be molded into brick form) and, also, to pause under a pressure-plunger 13, or a plurality thereof, for the ice-cream to be compacted within the mold 8 and thus. without human touch or proximity', leveled smooth with the top of the mold or box or receptacle 8, ready There is a plurality` for the lid to be put in place, whereupon the package, after being hardened, is ready for the market.

Each hopper 12 is the vent for a container 14. naving a lid and a chute-like bottom 16. TWhile the drawings conteInplate that a large can of material will be poured into the top of each container 14 (after removal of its lid 15), yet this can be done by mechanical dumping means (not shown in the drawings) or by an endless conveyor or otherwise. If desired, freezers may bc substituted for the containers 14. lVhen there is a plurality of containers 1.4, each will contain a different tiavor or kind, and the brick can be formed of several layers or any lesser number of kinds.

The standards 2 are preferably fastened to the floor by bolts 17, and the standards 1 are preferably attached by setserews 18 to bed-plate 19, which is secured to the floor in any desired manner.

Bed-plate is fastened to the floor by any suitable means. Bolts 21 may be such means, at the same time anchoring standards 22. which support the back-plate or frame 23. having the arm 24 and the reinforcing ribs 25. Arms 26 and 27 and arms 28 and 29 and sleeves 3() and 31 project from member 23. Sleeve 32 extends from `arm 24. Shaft 33 is journaled in sleeve 32. Shaft 34 is journaled in arms 26, 27, and 35, the latter arm projecting from back arm 24, and shaft 34 drives gears 34a.

Crankshaft 36 is journaled in arms 28 and 29 and operates connecting rods 37, swiveled at 38 to plungers 39, having the plungerheads 40, which are attached by setscrews 41 to plungers 39, steadied by guides 42. When a mold 8 filled with ice-cream pauses underneath one of the plunger-heads 40, the said pause and theaction of the crankshaft 36 are so timed that during such pause the ice-cream within the said stationary mold 8 receives a compressing and smoothing impact from one of the plunger'- heads 40. There are as many of the said heads 40 as there are containers 14.

There are two standards 22, one at about one end of the machine and the other about its middle.

From the back 23 extends a member 43,

'which is fastened by bolts 44 to standards 22 and braced therefrom by braces 45. Member 43 serves as a supporting guide for the carrier 7 during that part of the travel where the molds 8 are receiving their loads from containers 14 and the impacts of plungerheads 40. Member 43 is made up of several parts.

Stops 57 are mounted on the front edge of member 43. They are stationary stops, as distinguished from the traveling stops 46 and 47, the said traveling stops being fixed to carrier 7. The traveling stops mentioned are at both sides of carrier 7, that is one at the front and the other at the rear.

lhen in the course of travel of carrier 7 a stop 47 comes into contact with the foot 48 of trigger 49, tongue 50 remains in holding engagement with lip 51 of member 52, pivoted to arm 53 on rod 54 or extension of plate 55, until the tail 52a of member 52 strikes the head of setscrew 62, which tilts member 52 on its pivot and releases tongue from lip 51. Thereupon spring 54a which is fastened to plate 55, causes plate 55 to return to closed position. Prior to tail 52a striking setscrew 62, the plate 55 has been forced forward in such manner that ice-cream falls through the opening 56 into chute 16. Similar operations occur when stop 46 in the course of travel of carrier 7 inipinges upon foot 58 of trigger 59, thereby causing plate 60 so to move as to open chute 16 at the bottom and to allow its contents to fall into the mold 8 pausing thereunder. The stops 61 and 57 are so arranged that when plate 55 is open plate 60 is closed and vice versa.

The screws 62 and 63 make stops 61 and 57 adjustable. Setscrews 41 have a similar effect with respect to plungerheads 40. This is true in regard to setscrews 18 and standards 1, for the purpose of taking up slack in carrier 7.

In Figures 8 and 9, means is illustrated for adjustably regulating the height of stop 47, corresponding to changes in the size or shape of the chute-like bottom 16 of hopper 12, which hopper 12 is attached by screwthreads 65 to container 14, which arrangement facilitates cleaning, also.

There is a natural tendency for ice-cream to cling to the plungerheads 40. To reduce possibility of the ice-cream adhering to the plunger to a minimum a spray or nozzle 66 is located near each head 40, through which nozzle 66 a jet of steam or water squirts after each downward movement of head 4G and contact with ice-cream in mold 8. The steam or water that is ejected through nozzle 66 comes from the supply pipe 67, past the valve 68, and through the branch pipe 69.

Valve 68 is controlled and opened or closed by shaft 70, rotated by gear or sprocket-wheel 71, actuated by sprocketchain 72, driven from sprocket 73, which is driven continuously by shaft 73a, driven by pulley 91.

Crankshaft 36 is driven intermittently forward from chain 74, driven by sprocket 74a, which drives sprocket 75, to which is attached by pin 76 arm 77, pivoted at 78 te arm 79, intermittently driving pawl 80, fixed thereto, said pawl 8O being in engagex ment with toothed wheel 81LL rigidly mounted with bevel gear 81 on shaft 82. Gear '8l llG is, timed to occur immediately after the i, plunger-head 4O'has` pressed the ice-cream in` a mold 8 and that particular mold has moved on out of the way. When the valve is opened and. the moldis out of the. Way, Steam is directed against the bottom surface. of the plunger head Vand heats the saine,` al portion of the steam condensing and adheringy to the surface until the next compacting operationtakes place.` The heat and water are utilized in the next subsequent compacting operation to. heat and otherwise treat the surtace of the ice cream in theimold and therebyy prevent the plunger head sticking to the ice crea- In and further forming a smooth surface. The intermittency of the said action is` caused bythe ro,-v tation,Y of shaft 70. The timing of thc plungers` 40. isz caused by the alternation ot' thebite of pawl` and its riding loose on the teethL of gear 81a.

The motor 85f`urnishes power for all the operations of the machine,` first by means of pulley 86 driving belt 87 and thereby idler pulley 8S, thence. by means of pulleyV 89 the belt 90 and pulley 91.

shaft 4.` A pawl 97 is mounted in the usual way on arm and engages ratchet 98, fixed toshaft 4. Vhen pulley 91 revolves so` that i by reason of the pivotal attachment theretov plungerheads 40 to comp-actl the contents otf other molds 8 loaded at the` last preceding pause orV stoppage of carrier 7. Y

A belt 99., JDwisted` to. change, direction,

runs from the shaft of motor 85 toV a pulley 100,` which it drives, andA therewith sha-ft 34 mounted on back 23s, inv brackets 26 and-27 and 3,5, Pinions 344 fixed to shaft 84, drive gears. 1,03 and, 104, and therewith pinions and 106,` mounted on the same shafts` 107 108, respectively, as gears 103. and 104,` Pnijons 1,05 and 106; drive gears.1i09

and 110, respectivelyand therewith shafts 111 and 112, to each of which is attached a beater or dolly or stirrer 113,` the paddles ot which continuously agitate the contents of containers14 and keep the same. from. packing-, butin` a condition readily to` fall thigough opening- 5,6, being tua-ther assisted thereto by the fact that the said paddlesare inclined slightly downward, whereby the Pivoted at 92 toV :p pulley 91 is arm 9,3,` which is pivoted at 94 to arm 9.5having an eye 96, encircling` same as rotated by shafts 11.151; and 112 act as an endless screw or screw-conveyor.

An, inclined tripper. 1,01 is supported by braclret 102 attached to cross-.piece 115 that runs from standard 2 to standard 114. The saidtripper 101 is arranged at` such a` height and at aV suitable angle that each mold 8 will thereby be causedfto riseout of engagement with springs 10 and be thus detached from the carrier 7 at the point where tripper` 101 is located. The cover (not shown in the drawings) for the box or mold Sis thereupon applied,` either by hand or by suitable me? chanical means (not shown in the. drawings) and the said box removed,while aclean and empty box` or mold 8 in its stead is attached to carrier 7 by being forced into engagement with springs 10. The said empty box may be supplied and attached by mechanical means (not shown in the drawings) just as the full one can be similarly removed.

In Figures 10 to 15 isillustrated a rotary hopper 116, having therein a4 chamber 117,

adapted to receive and contain an exact and` predetermined quantity of ice-cream deposited therein (in the manner hereinbefore described) from the container 14, hen carrier 7 brings. a mold 81 adjacent to. hopper 11G, pin 118 comes into contact therewith and hopper 116, the chamber 117 of which has previously been filled from. container 12 the manner hereinabove setl forth, `tiltsand Finally rotates. half way around to the dump-ing posit-ion shown` in Figure 14, from which the ice-cream is deposited in the mold 8. The other figures illustrating thismodification depict other steps or details.

The herein-described method of* molding ice-cream is intended to obviateV the human body .or any part or product offit coming into contact with or near the ice-cream,which is accomplished by providing molds and an endless carrier and means for `easilyv attachsp.l

alii

ing the said molds to the said carrier and a i container-or containers for the ice-cream located in proximity toV1 the saidV carrier and having appliances automatically operatable adapted` to eilgectl the loading of the said molds from the said containers without; hu-

man` intervention anch further, by providing automatic mechanical means for; compacting the contents ot' the mold-s and smoothing the topl thereof and, finally, delivering the filledv molds, havingtheir contents larranged in layers il" desired, to, the end` of the op.-` eigation, ready for the applicati-oni of; lids by hand or by machine.

The arrangement of the containers 14 over the path of travel ot the molds enables gravity to play an important part in this` process` of non-.human intervention in the handling of the-material to be fed into the molds; 8,l butto. assist in maintaininga non-solid conditionof the ice-cream, so that gravity may act, the action ofthe stirrers 113; is, also,

important, as the same produce constant agitation of the contents of the containers 14, besides, as above stated, acting as a. forcefeed or endless screw-feed toward the openings from the containers 14.

The mechanism operating the plungers 13 can be re-arranged so as to be located, if desired, at a less height than shown in the drawings and from underneath the belt or carrier 7.

Having thus described this invention, I hereby reserve the benefit of all changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as it is evident that many minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

l. A machine of the character described, comprising a pair of Wheels having a plurality of flat surfaces, a link-belt carrier adapted to travel on the said Wheels, a plurality of molds mounted on the said carrier, means for imparting intermittent movement thereto, a plurality of containers, a plurality of compacters, means for opening the containers, means for actuating the coinpacters, the said means for intermittent driving being so timed as to allow each of the said molds to pause adjacent to cach of the said containers when the same is open and adjacent to each of the said compacters at the time when the same is operating.

2. A machine of the character described, comprising a plurality of containers, means for opening the same, a plurality of compacters, means for operating the same, a pair of Wheels having fiat surfaces, a caterpillar conveyor adapted to travel on the said wheels and adapted to pause repeatedly coincidently With part thereof lying on one of the said flat surfaces, a plurality of molds borne by the said carrier and so arranged as to stop near the said containers and, also, near the said coinpacters, means for impart ing a step-by-step movement to the said carrier, and an initial source of power for all operations, the said operations being so timed that a mold is presented empty to a container' at the time when the same opens and to a compacter at the time when the same operates and moves out of the Way to the next place leaving room for its successor.

3. A machine of the character described, comprising a caterpillar carrier-,l a pair of polygonal Wheels with which the same is adapted to travel and one of Which drives the same, means for imparting an intermittent movement to the said driving Wheel, a plurality of molds mounted on the said carrier, a container and a plunger located in juxtaposition to the said carrier, a stirrer Within the said container, means for actuating the same, and means for automatically opening the said container.

4. A machine of the character described, comprising a caterpillar carrier, a pair of polygonal wheels with which the same is adapted to travel and one of which drives the same, means for imparting an intermittent movement to the said driving Wheel, a plurality of molds mounted on the said carrier, a container and a plunger located in juxtaposition to the said carrier, a stirrer Within the said container, means for actuating the same, and means for automatically opening the said container, the opening of the container and the action of the plunger being so timed as to synchronize with the pause adjacent to the same of one of the molds in its step-by-step movement.

5. A machine of the character described, comprising a container, a carrier adapted to travel in proximity thereto, a plunger so located relative to the said container as to be in the path of travel beyond the plane of the said carrier, a pipe leading to a point adjacent to the said plunger and having a mouth, a valve controlling emission from the said mouth, and means adapted to control the opening of the said valve so that the same will open at a time immediately following the compacting operation of the said plunger and the latter is elevated.

6. A machine of the character described, comprising a container having an opening, a member adapted to close the said opening and to be Withdrawn so as to open the same, a carrier adapted to travel in proximity to the said container, engaging means mounted on the said carrier, engaging means mounted on the said closing and opening member and adapted to be actuated by the said engaging means upon the said carrier so 'as to open the said opening, and means mounted on the frame of the machine adapted to cause the release of said opening and closing member from said engaging means.

7 A machine of the character described, comprising a container having an opening, a member adapted to close the said opening and to be Withdrawn so as to open the same, a carrier adapted to travel in proximity to the said container, engaging means mounted on the said carrier, engaging means mounted on the said closing and opening member and adapted to be actuated by the said engaging means upon the said carrier so as to open the said opening, means mounted on the frame of the machine adapted to cause the said member to return to closed posit-ion, and a compacting plunger located adjacent to the said container and in the further path of travel of the said carrier.

8. A machine of the character described, comprising a container having an opening, a member adapted to close the said opening and to be Withdrawn so as to open the same, a carrier adapted to travel in proximity to the said container, engaging means mounted on the said carrier7 engaging means mounted on the said closing and opening member and adapted to be actuated by the said engaging means upon the said carrier so as to open the said opening, means mounted on the frame of the machine adapted to cause the release of said opening and closing mem ber from said engaging means, a compacting plunger located adjacent to the said container and in the further path of travel of 10 the said carrier, and a plurality of molds borne by the said carrier and adapted to pass in proximity to the said container and later in proximity to the said plunger.

In testimony Whereol I hereunto alix my 15 signature.

J. VVILLARD CARPENTER. 

